Jewish Country House Weddings Archives - Page 19 of 21 - Smashing the Glass

Renata & Jonathan | A Monique Lhuillier bride for a 3-day French Riviera Jewish wedding at Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild, Cap Ferrat, South of France

06/01/2015 by Karen

Weddings by the sea are my absolute favourite, so I’m a little bit obsessed with today’s gorgeous French Riviera Jewish wedding coming to you from the à¼ber-glamorous Cap Ferrat — a quite breathtaking part of the world that I was fortunate enough to visit last summer.

When STG regular, Polly Alexandre revealed the sneak peak to me, I just knew that Renata and Jonathan’s three day wedding extravaganza would be seriously fun to blog. This gorgeous destination wedding has more than a touch of class about it and I thought it would make for the perfect pick-me-up in the first week of January. Thoroughly elegant and sophisticated, the flowers in particular are unbelievably dreamy, with lots of beautiful pink and white peonies, roses and hydrangea. I’m also loving the sweetheart table, the macaroon pyramid, the suite of ‘magnificent garden’ themed stationery (complete with flower seed sachets!), and the jaw-dropping ceremony backdrop.

It’s quite the fashion fest too. I love the classiness of an outdoor black tie wedding, and Jonathan’s Tom Ford tuxedo is an absolute showstopper. Renata chose a Monique Lhuillier gown paired with Manolo Blahnik shoes, and then changed into a bespoke Femmes Fatales dress by Ella Tatarinova for the evening. I told you it was a fashion frenzy!

I’ve got the wedding film for you from Allora Visuals at the end of the post, as well as all the breathtaking imagery by the supremely talented Polly Alexandre. Take it away Polly and Renata…

How we met

In the words of Polly Alexandre, their photographer, Renata and Johnny’s love story involves two jetskis, two cities, one sea urchin, 40 spikes and a hospital.

Polly Alexandre, “This may seem like an unusual story and it’s definitely one of the most original I have heard for sure, but like all good fairytales it has a happy ending. The couple met on a group holiday in Kenya where Johnny persuaded Renata to come out on a jetski ride with him. However Johnny *may or may not* have gone a little bit fast and consequently Renata was thrown from the jetski into the shallow waters. She stepped on the seabed to catch her footing and “ouch!” immediately trod on a sea urchin that immediately shed over 40 spikes into her foot. So it was off to hospital to have them removed.”

“Feeling slightly responsible for her fate, Johnny arranged to take Renata for dinner in London a few weeks later, by way of apology. Except that this was a little more than an apology as rumour has it Johnny actually booked several restaurants for this rather special date…… finally opting for dinner at Daphne’s. The connection was immediate and soon blossomed into a beautiful romance. Despite living in different countries, the couple took it in turns to fly to each other for the weekend so they could be reunited each week.”

Meredith & Shoshana | True love + oodles of creativity: Lesbian Jew-ish Wedding at Notley Abbey, Oxfordshire, UK

01/12/2014 by Karen

One of the reasons I’m in love with my job as editor and curator of Smashing The Glass is that weddings are the ultimate fusion of creativity, traditions and of course true love – three things that I adore – and this divine wedding has all three in buckets.

When an email from Danny and Julie of Minty Slippers popped in with a link to Meredith and Shoshana’s incredible wedding film, below, I had a massive ‘this is why I cherish my job’ moment. It’s so very moving, and their devoted love for each other is so apparent — I literally whooped, hollered and clapped my hands with glee in anticipation of blogging Danny and Julie’s fabulous work, and Meredith and Shoshana’s love story.

It’s a tale of long-distance desire with the pair first meeting in 2011 when Shoshana, from London, was studying at the New York Film Academy and Meredith was working at a Manhattan advertising agency.

Shoshana eventually returned to London after her studies, and being thrown suddenly into a long distance relationship, they decided to make videos to remind them of the fun they shared together. Their videos are super creative and fun and will fill you in a little more on their love story.

But on to the wedding itself. I don’t think I’ve ever seen brides who smiles as much as Meredith and Shoshana did on their big day; honestly their infectious grins are enough to make even the most miserable, rainy Mondays seem like Happy Hour in the Caribbean.

They were married at Notley Abbey in Oxfordshire, a beautiful venue that was once the home of Sir Laurence Olivier. There is a Stephanie Allin AND a J.Crew gown, both as beautiful as each other. There is a singing harpist, an immense naked cake, outdoor games and stunning florals . There are hand-painted favours by Shoshana (who is an illustrator by trade) of each guest’s name painted and presented on miniature easels. There are some fantastic ideas for a really meaningful wedding ceremony.

But most of all? Most of all there is L.O.V.E

The beautiful moments on film below were captured by Minty Slippers, whilst the immense photography is courtesy of Mark Cachia.

The venue

Meredith and Shoshana, the Brides: We chose Notley Abbey in Oxfordshire, for its tree-lined entrance, the castle like turrets, the beautiful gardens and the stunning contemporary mix with 13th century architecture — need we say more, it was perfect!

‘Global travel meets art’

Our wedding theme would be best described as ‘global travel meets art’ – that’s what we arrived at in the end! We didn’t have a colour scheme but we definitely thought about colour throughout the process. We didn’t use a wedding planner, we had too much fun planning it ourselves!

Ruth & David | Pretty Outdoor Jewish wedding at Northbrook Park, Farnham, Surrey UK

12/11/2014 by Karen

Photographers, Pen and Cam, from McKinley-Rodgers do classic elegant romance effortlessly, even the way they capture flowers perched in a mason jar is like something out of a modern fairytale.

Of course it helps when you are presented with an affair such as Ruth and David’s, a beautiful country garden estate, an abundance of sunshine and a bride and groom that positively exude the whole happy-ever-after.

Ruth’s floaty dress is to die for, and I am expecting plenty of Pinterest action for the coral colour scheme and fresh floral numbers.

And talking of florals….the blooms in general are deliciously dreamy…

HOW WE MET
Ruth, the Bride: David and I met at Manchester University – at a JSoc (Jewish Society) “Friday Night Fever”! We went out for a few months, broke up for 3 years, and then started going out again just as I was about to graduate. I moved to London, he stayed in Manchester for his PhD and, 5 years later, we got married!

Alana & Marc | Country Garden Boho Jewish wedding at Offley Place Country House, Hertfordshire, UK

23/09/2014 by Karen

Alana and Marc were introduced by a mutual friend over Facebook (the Rabbi even thanked Mark Zuckerburg during the ceremony), and after a few messages back and forth they met up in a Camden pub, and the rest, as they say, is history!

They had a fantastic marquee-in-the-garden wedding and chose to hold their ceremony outdoors, complete with super-sized balloons lining the aisle, and the BEST bridesmaid entrance you have ever seen. Yes, Alana’s 8 month old niece arrived in a a remote controlled mini cream Fiat 500! EPIC or what?

But that’s not all. I also absolutely adore Alana’s entire outfit — from her exquisite wedding dress to her sensitively designed birdcage veil and headpiece which she accessorises perfectly with a pink and peach Peonie bouquet.

Alana and Marc have written their wedding report together and it’s lovely to hear from a Groom who had so much input into the big day, even though he confesses that “Alana had so many ideas for the wedding that [he] wasn’t convinced by, but “[he has] to admit they ended up being amazing” (And he said that he promises he wasn’t forced to write that either!).

Images come from our fabulous Smashing Supplier, Mark Seymour, back with a bang to STG with this wedding. As always, he captures every last detail beautifully. And there’s an immense highlight film right at the end of the post by Wedding Films London. It really captures the spirit of the day and if you’ve never been to a Jewish wedding but always wondered about the “crazy Jewish wedding dancing thing” scroll to 3 minutes, 5 seconds in and you’ll get a terrific example (WARNING: you’ll feel exhausted just watching!).

THE PERFECT VENUE FOR AN OUTDOOR CEREMONY AND A GREAT BIG PARTY!
Alana the Bride, and Marc, the groom: Our venue was called Offley Place. We dreamed of having the ceremony outdoors and we wanted the venue to have real character to it too. We also needed to find somewhere that could fit our huge family. We had a few venues fall through and we were really finding it difficult to find anywhere that worked for us. When we went to see Offley Place we knew straight away that we wanted to get married there. The grounds were stunning and the marquee had capacity for our huge family. The fact that the manor house had rooms for us to stay in ensured that the party could continue late into the night. Also, the manor house itself was very beautiful. Offley Place had the potential to incorporate all our ideas and the team there were clearly geared up for Jewish weddings already.

Alyshia & Martin | Super cute Jewish wedding, with pops of hot pink, on Lake Rosseau, Ontario, Canada

11/09/2014 by Karen

Alyshia and Martin are the cutest couple. Their couple shots are so full of warmth and affection, I’ve snuck a fair few into this post. I’ve also included lots shots of Alyshia’s bouquet — which is bursting with gorgeous ombre orchids. She’s such a loveable bride, and that headpiece is swooooooon. The groom, Martin, has the most splendid geek-cool factor – watch out for his seriously sexy groom fashion.

So let’s jet off to the lakes in Canada for this delightful affair. I’m approaching it from a slightly different angle this time round as it’s actually the pair’s photographers — Erika and Ryan from Rowell Photography — that will be talking us through the bride and groom’s view of the day.

How we met

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The venue

‘Global travel meets art’

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